2021 Book Review #14: The Book of Two Ways

 

This author is one of 3 contemporary authors whose books I look for in our town library as soon as they hit the market.  I have read every single one of Picoult's novels except her first one and her young adult fiction.  I have loved every single novel although there was one that didn't get a 10 from me.  This one??

UGH!  I just struggled through it.  I loved the idea of this book.  The title is perfect for the story line.  The characters, as usual, are well developed as is the setting.  But.  Definitely not, in my opinion, one of her better ones unless you just love Egyptology and the Egyptian religions and talk of death and the afterlife.

STORY SUMMARY

Dawn Edelstein is married to Brian, a physicist. She's the mother of Meret, a teenager who loves science.  They live in Boston where Dawn is a death doula.  But that's not what she went to Yale for...she attended Yale about 15 years previously as a grad student doing research in Egyptology and the tombs of pharaohs from centuries ago......in fact, tombs from pharaohs during Old  Testament times!  but that was a long time ago and another love ago.....

She is on a plane when all of a sudden there is an announcement to prepare for an emergency crash landing. She prepares herself and thoughts begin to fly through her mind....but they are not of her husband and daughter.  They are from 15 years ago and those thoughts include a man named Wyatt Armstrong, a British Egyptologist.

Dawn has survived the crash but now she has many doubts about her life. 

After the crash, the airlines offer to send people who survived to any place they want to go and she chooses Egypt.  The obvious destination should be back to Boston to her beloved family.  But she wants to take a different path....back to the archeological dig site and to reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history.  She might even complete her research about The Book of Two Ways.....which is the first known map of the afterlife. 

As the story continues, Dawn's life and two possible futures play along side by side.....and so do her secrets and doubts that have been buried.  Dawn has a lot of questions for her self:  What does a life well lived look like?  What do we leave behind when we leave this earth? Do we make choices or do our choices make us?  Who would you be if you hadn't turned out to be the person you are right now??

MY THOUGHTS

As in all of her novels, there is an ethical/moral  issue and family dynamics; however there is also a non-linear plot. (Which doesn't thrill me!). The writing style of course is exquisite. She is a master novelist and it shows in her research of Egyptology.  However, I found this frustrating and cumbersome.  I just wasn't interested in the bulk of it.  I did love her characters and especially learning about a death doula.  I had a birthing doula for my 2nd child so I was especially interested to learn that there's such a career as death doula.  That's fascinating to me.

I didn't like that I had trouble figuring out which storyline I was in!  There are two:  The Land/Egypt and The Water/Boston.  She does title each section but  even during those sections it is difficult to know which storyline she's following. Which path does she choose??  It just goes on and on and on........

It took forever to get there and then.....well...I won't tell you the ending but let's just say I was not satisfied although in true Picoult form it was done brilliantly.  In fact, the last couple of chapters were my favorite in the entire novel.

There were some excellent quotes and here are a couple of my favorite ones:

"That's the thing about being obsessed with the past. It keeps you from having to notice the present."(pg 235 The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult, c.2020)

"I wonder if he learned this lesson from me: that something has to leave before you realize it is missing." (pg 368)

"You trust someone who makes space for you in his or her life....so much so that if you leave, they will feel the absence.  You give someone your vulnerable, unshelled heart wrapped in a question:  What will you do with it?" (pg 399)

I really love all of her novels and my absolute favorites continue to be A Spark of Light which in my opinion, every single Christian should read, especially evangelical conservative Christians.....and her earlier novels such as Keeping Faith, The Pact, Nineteen Minutes and so many more.

I don't usually say this but sometimes a book makes a good movie...this might be that kind of book.....I'm guessing I'd like the movie.

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 6.